Sonic Boom
by metalguru
Summary: A reimagining of the SATam world. In a futuristic dystopia, a dictator rules with an iron fist, opposed by an underground group of Freedom Fighters. But a new hero just rolled into town.
1. Default Chapter

This was simply an idea I've been kicking around my head for awhile. SatAM fans and diehards – please, just give it a chance. I swear I'll be gentle. There will be a tiny sprinkling of Archie, but I'm trying to stay as far away from them as possible and concentrate solely on SatAM.

Prologue

_Highway 11. Known by the locals as the 'highway to hell.' I'd believe it. Several hundred miles of lonely asphalt elevated over top of merciless desert sands. Temps on the road hit a broiling 120 degrees at noon, and the blacktop gives off its heat even at night, making the road inhospitable even during freezing cold desert evenings. Not like anybody rides this highway anyway. Even the scum-sucking scavengers who prey on lost travelers on the sands don't use the road, and it's not from the heat. On one end the highway stops in a 'resort' city on the ocean where if you're lucky to win an 'all-expenses paid vacation' there, you're not just going to never want to leave. You're simply never going to leave. Alive. _

_On the other end lies the biggest, baddest city in the entire world. _

_Robotropolis…_

_Center of the Eggman Empire… _

_Home to the fattest tub of lard to ever rule with an iron fist, Dr. Ivo Robotnik. _

_But more on him later. Let's get back to the road for a second. I never explained why no one ever rides on this road anymore. Well…_

A single blue creature blazed at high speeds down the elevated asphalt surrounded by concrete barriers known as Highway 11. It wore a red jacket, no pants, and orange goggles designed to protect its eyes from sun, wind, and sand as it ran at almost a hundred-and-twenty miles an hour. It also wore red high-tops with a white strip across the middle. It was a short creature, standing at about three and a half feet tall, with white gloved hands and blue spikes going down his head all the way to his back.

This creature was known around the world as a hedgehog. However, this was no ordinary hedgehog. His name was Sonic, and he was the fastest thing alive. Or, at least at this moment, he hoped he was.

_This is why._

Five helodrones, small robotic gunships equipped with a single turboprop in their center for lift, chased after the hedgehog guns blazing.

Sonic raced around corners and up guardrails like they were his own personal playground, avoiding the machine gun fire of the small but very lethal gunships. Jumping towards a nearby lamp post that looked like it had seen better days, he used his momentum to grab the pole and flip around, using the centrifugal force from the move to throw himself back at the gunships.

Landing directly on top of a gunship, the force of his momentum sent the gunship downward. With one massive kick, Sonic jumped off the gunship, sending it directly into the road with a tremendous explosion. Flipping gracefully through the air, Sonic spun into a ball.

Using his spines like razor sharp buzz saw blades, he ripped right through another helodrone with his sonic spin attack. Landing feet first, Sonic raced off as the busted helodrone fell to the ground and exploded where Sonic had landed only moments before. The remaining three drones once again took off after Sonic, not showing a hint of fear or sanity after what happened to their compatriots.

The blue hedgehog stole a glance over his right shoulder, shaking his head slightly.

_Stupid bots…_

_Sorry about that, I just needed to get some breathing room. My name is Sonic the Hedgehog, the coolest (and fastest) thing on two feet. I'm sweet sixteen, single, and on my way to Robotropolis for the first time since I left eight years ago. The drones chasing me shot out my motorcycle about a hundred miles back, which doesn't help them out since I can run circles around that bike, but still, number one, its nice to have something else do the work when you travel cross-country, and number two, nobody, and I mean NOBODY, destroys my bike!_

With a huge leap, Sonic jumped off the edge of the highway onto the sands below with the drones in hot pursuit. Landing with perfect precision, Sonic merely folded his arms while waiting for the slowpoke helodrones to come after him.

The three drones dove right towards Sonic, guns aimed directly at his head. They came closer and closer, till finally they were only seconds away from being at point blank.

In a flash, Sonic shot out at a radius of about thirty feet, then circled quickly around the helodrones, kicking up huge amounts of sand. Flying around in circles, he picked up speed faster and faster until a massive dust devil formed around the helodrones.

In the dust devil, the drones sensors were useless, and they jolted violently through the air, unable to control their descent. In a fiery explosion, the three drones smashed into one another, blowing them to bits and leaving their scrap to be lost forever in the shifting sands.

The dust devil rose until it was the height of the highway. From out of the top shot a blue ball straight up into the air, firing out into the desert sun. Unwrapping from the ball, Sonic the Hedgehog flipped over in preparation for landing.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for flying Sonic air, please place your head and feet in upright position for landing." said the cocky blue hedgehog, landing on his two feet using only one hand for balancing.

Brushing the sand off his shoulder, he looked out over the edge at the busted bots below.

"Guess the trip was too rough for them!" he smirked.

A bolt of energy flew his way, missing the teenager by inches. Sonic quickly looked in the direction it came from, only to find two more helodrones coming his way.

"Don't they ever learn?" Sonic merely shook his head.

In an enormous blast of speed, Sonic shot past the two on-coming helodrones, which quickly turned direction to follow.

Sonic was going all out down the highway. The city, which had only been a blip in the distance, now seemed to rise up in front of Sonic like a behemoth awoken from sleep. It's edges stretched clear across the horizon while its massive skyscrapers, a marvel of steel and glass, rose towards the heavens.

However, the road up ahead was blocked.

_GuardDrone!_ Sonic thought, throwing out his right foot in order to stop himself. At his speed, Sonic didn't stop instantly, but rather his momentum carried him for another half mile, leaving an enormous skid mark down the otherwise unmarked highway.

GuardDrones were huge robots designed to block off roads and stop everything from invaders to speeders. Their main body sat in the middle of the road way and shot out a large metal electrified gate that spanned the width of the road. Six large advanced armored infantry robots stood at the gate supported by a few squads of SWAT bots. As soon as Sonic was in range, they opened fire.

Moving as fast as his legs could move him, Sonic waded around the gunfire, attacking several SWAT bots head on, smashing their circuitry into nothing. An AAI robot fired a large net at the hedgehog, but Sonic dove out of the way and a swatbot got tangled up with another AAI robot, which in its absent-mindedness fired an artillery shell, blowing both itself and the swatbot into smithereens.

Another AAI bot fired an artillery shell at Sonic and missed, but the impact was close enough that it knocked the hedgehog off balance and into the firing range of the GuardianDrone.

Sonic flailed around in the air, unable to get a foothold on the ground, rolling directly in front of the Guardian. Its large maw opened, revealing an enormous energy weapon. Quickly powering it up, it fired.

The resulting impact blasted an enormous hole in the road all the way through to the bottom. The sand below was now visible in the hole.

In the smoke left over from the attack, the swatbots searched frantically to see if the hedgehog had survived.

Peering into the hole, one of the swatbots noticed a certain white glove hanging onto the edge for dear life. Pulling himself up out of the hole, Sonic gave out a gasp of relief at being alive before taking it back as several semi-automatic machine gun barrels were pointed directly at his head.

Bagged and tagged, Sonic waited patiently on the side of the broiling highway as a small transport ship landed on the road. The swat bots around him waited silently for the pick-up to arrive, with an AAI pointed its artillery cannon straight at him, ensuring that the hedgehog had one choice; go to jail in one piece, or to the great beyond in a million.

Despite the fact that they had no emotions, the swat bots seemed awfully impatient as they kicked Sonic to his feet towards the transport. Throwing him inside, the door quickly locked behind him, and they were off.

Sonic looked around him to see a motley collection of prisoners joining him. Some looked like they belonged their, as their haggard appearance and menacing looks gave them the aura of criminals. Others however had nothing that would suggest they had committed a crime. Some were in rich clothes; others looked like they were saints, not criminals. There were even a few women and children onboard, some who were crying.

Sonic took his seat next to a large pig, who grunted when he sat down but after a quick stare down became bored and left the hedgehog alone. Sonic relaxed and looked out the small glass slit that revealed the outside world. The sand abated as buildings flew by, taking up the majority of the landscape.

Everywhere there were signs and billboards, television screens, and com channels, each with the face of the rotund dictator on it with the words **OBEY**, **ROBOTNIK**, and **ORDER IS FREEDOM** splattered across each one.

_Well, one way or another, I'm going to Robotropolis_¸ thought the teenage hedgehog.

As the transport entered the city, with the sun setting across the massive city, he could not know just what thrills awaited him in the big city, or that there would be those who call him friend, ally, brother, and most of all…

Hero.

To be continued this summer…


	2. Chapter 2

The dropship landed in the exercise field/loading/unloading area in the middle of Robotropolis' one and only maximum security prison. The walls of the building extended high into the air, a bleak mess of metal and mechanical gears turning for what reason no one could fathom. On the blacktop were drawn yellow footprints.

The prisoners were quickly pulled out of the transport at gunpoint by two guardbots, which were more heavily armed and armored but slower than SWAT bots. Out of a nearby gate rolled several small and lanky robots about the height of Sonic on unicycles, a variation servbots designed simply for giving orders and non-labor activities. They rolled around the prisoners quickly, chirping orders.

"Quickly, quickly! Take a position, the show's about to start!"

The servbots maneuvered the prisoners like dogs herding sheep onto the footprints, standing at intervals like a military unit. One of the prisoners, a ragged dog who looked like a gang member, kicked out the wheel from under one of the servbots, breaking its axle and sending it tumbling to the ground. With an enormous stomp, the prisoner crushed the bot with a _scree!_

A guardbot swung its enormous gun arm at the prisoner, sending him flying across the yard. Almost instantly after he landed, two servbots locked cuffs around his legs and dragged his limp body away, the prisoners with weak constitutions horrified at the sight.

"Hurry up, hurry up!" shouted a servbot wearing a tie, most likely the bot in charge. "We start in…3…2…1…"

Camera drones lowered from someplace overhead, hovering at eye level around the prisoners. Another drone, this one a large TV screen, also lowered down in front of them. It flipped on to an announcer shouting…

"It's the Robotnik show! Starring…Dr. Ivo Robotnik! Tonight, our glorious dictator welcomes movie star Justin Slater! Plus…top ten reasons why rebellion is bad!"

"You have got to be kidding me," muttered Sonic to himself.

"…musical guest the Robotropolis Patriot's band! And now, here he is…"

The rotund one himself appeared on the screen, sitting behind a cold metal desk, wearing his favorite (ie: ugly) tight red suit with a yellow collar and grey arms, as well as black gloves. He didn't bother to move on the air, thankfully sparing everyone from his gelatinous body.

"Dr. Ivo Robotnik!"

"Good afternoon, citizens of Robotropolis. This is your caring, thoughtful dictator bringing you your mandatory dose of news, reviews, and celebrities. It's Monday night, so you know what that means: a new round of prisoners for this week of games! "

The large video screens displayed the prisoners arranged in their rows, their scared faces staring straight into the camera. From the monitors, the sounds of an obviously fake audience booed.

"…therefore, we'll now go down to our man on the ground, Snively!"

Fireworks lit up one side of the gathering area, as a short, balding little man arose from underneath the ground, wearing a loud green suit with bow tie and a mustache curled up into circles. He stepped forward and took a bow. The sounds of doctored clapping filled the area.

"And what do we have today, Mr. Snively?" asked Robotnik.

"Wellll, Dr. Robotnik, our first prisoners are a couple who did not pay the love tax."

A fake gasp was heard, and Dr. Robotnik shook his head.

"Oh my. People of Robotropolis, please understand, the Love Tax is an affirmation of your love, not a challenge. Money is very important, but if you're willing to give it up for love, isn't that an indication of how far you're willing to love!"

Snively walked down the line holding an electronic clipboard.

"Now, this next prisoner took valuable food and gave it to underworlders."

More booing came from the fake audience.

"Oh, no no no," cackled Robotnik, "those who live in the under-levels are third-class citizens, and giving them food is an A-class violation. Need I remind you all what happens to violators?"

A large mechanical door on the side of the viewing area opened. The sound of clanging and robotic joints banging together reverberated through the metal walls.

"Please welcome, last week's winners!"

A column of anthropomorphic robots marched through the door, each a different species of animal, now joined together in roboticization. Silently except for their mechanical feet hitting the ground, they kicked out their legs like soldiers high-stepping, moving crisply in perfect formation, coming to a halt directly in front of the prisoners, now utterly terrified. If this is what happens to the winners, Sonic thought, he seriously didn't want to know what happened to the losers.

"See what happens to those who oppose Dr. Ivo Robot-"

**BOOM!**

In the distance, a huge fireball silhouetted the sky. Glass in several buildings nearby smashed into a million pieces.

The camera in Robotnik's studio zoomed in on his face.

"Snively, wha-zzz-going-vvrrrzzz." The connection cut out and the screen was nothing but static.

"Robots, fan out!" shouted Snively. "It has to be those damn Freedom Fighters!"

The guard-bots as well as the roboticized Mobians moved into defensive positions in order to guard the new batch of prisoners. Another explosion detonated in the distance.

"Where are they?" shouted Snively into his communicator.

A robotic voice came over the other line. "Subjects have been cited in the factory district, three blocks away from your current position."

"Get there immediately, and close off that area! Lock it down. Anyone on the street should be corralled and roboticized! No slipping out with the civilians this time!"

He closed up the communicator and smirked.

"That area's a dead end. There's no way they can slip out of there. They're as good as dead."

A wave of sound energy curled into a ball flew through the air, smashing directly into a nearby SWAT bot, ripping its inner circuitry to shreds and sending it flying back into a guard-bot.

"SNIPER!" yelled another SWAT bot in his monotone voice, pointing in the direction of the roof, microseconds before that robot as well was smashed to pieces.

Sonic looked up to the rooftops, but could only make out the outline of someone on the roof with a weapon, as well as something behind him that looked like…wings?

A ball rolling across the parade grounds caught Sonic's attention. It was a small electronic device that rolled behind the group of guard robots, all concentrating on the sniper up on the roof. Clinking against one of the guard-bots, it rolled to a stop. Opening into a larger ball with an electric core, the core charged up with white energy, then fired, sending a shockwave.

All the living creatures tensed up, but were unharmed by the electric shock. The robots, on the other hand, went into what appeared to be seizures, collapsing to the ground with no movement.

Running across the parade grounds, two anthros, one a girl and the other a guy, both dressed in black with ski masks over their heads, headed straight for the prisoners. The girl carried a massive rifle weapon that looked so heavy that she had to drape it over her shoulder in order to carry it. The guy had a pistol in one hand and a sword in the other, with which he used to cut the chains on the prisoners.

While the guy went at freeing the prisoners, the girl covered him.

"Hurry up, suge, those lily-livered bots will be back soon!"

The guy continued to cut the chains, but he was taking far too long. Coming upon Sonic, the guy was surprised when the hedgehog held out his hand.

"'Bout you let me take care of that for you?" quipped Sonic.

"Sacre bleu! What is the big idea being?" said the guy in a French accent.

Not bothering to give an answer, Sonic grabbed the sword and, in a manner of seconds, had cut every chain and freed all the prisoners. Whistling contently, he spun the sword on his finger like a basketball, then handed it back to its owner.

"Mon dieu…" was the guy's only response.

BLAM!

A nearby wall blasted in, and the red eyes of SWAT bots could be seen through the smoke.

"This way!" A shout came from behind all the prisoners. Out of a hole in the back of the parade grounds, another guy, this one rotund, waved to the prisoners to come back.

"Go!" shouted the girl, firing full-auto into the blasted-out section.

A concussion shell flew through the open hole, straight at the girl.

"Oh no!"

She closed her eyes, waiting for the impact. However, instead of the feeling of utter annihilation, all she felt was two arms grab her and pull her away at almost super-sonic speeds.

Opening her eyes, she found two blue eyes staring back at her.

"Yo." The hedgehog gave a half-salute.

"Hey!" The two of them looked to the nearby rotund member still half-way out the hole. "Let's get a move on –woah!" He ducked back into the hole like a scared gopher as a shot rang past.

Sonic and the girl dove for the hole, the girl dropping her weapon in order to dive down faster.

Sonic didn't know where they were headed or why. He was in a sewer, it was dark, it smelled, and all he could do was follow the sounds of footsteps in front of him. Soon, he had lost all sight of any other person, save the girl running next to him. Though he could blow by her easily, he decided to keep pace with her. Maybe she knew which way to head.

He and the girl came to a two-way intersection. While the girl went right, Sonic went left. The girl stopped and turned around.

"Wait! Where you going?"

Sonic looked over his shoulder and gave her a wink, which caught her a little off-guard.

"I can search these sewers a lot quicker than anyone. I'll see what I can find and then catch up, kay?"

The girl was suspicious, but she quickly gave in.

"Alright, suge, but be careful!" She took off the other way.

Sonic watched her take off, the sounds of her footsteps fading into the distance.

Sonic turned towards his objective.

"Now, where to start?"

The click of a weapon behind Sonic's head froze his concentration into only one direction.

"Don't move!"

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

The sound of the hammer on a blaster clicking back in preparation for the shot focused Sonic's concentration in a way that only a lethal weapon pointed at the back of your head could do.

"Don't move!"

The voice, however, was in no way as sincere as the action the owner of the voice was undertaking.

Raising his hands in the air, Sonic slowly turned around.

"I said…I…said…don't move!" The voice was shaky now.

Facing his would-be attacker, Sonic found himself face-to-face with a ten-year old fox child, gingerly holding the shaking blaster. Seeing that Sonic was a furry and not metal, the young fox let down his guard a little.

"Who are you?"

"That's a pretty dangerous weapon…" Sonic smirked.

The fox blinked… and the hedgehog was gone. Also gone was the blaster, snatched out of the fox's hand with no warning whatsoever.

"…better let me hang on to it." The hedgehog's voice popped up from behind the fox. He quickly spun around to find the older hedgehog examining the weapon.

The fox was speechless. There was no way what had just occurred was physically possible.

"How did you do that?" Fear changed to ecstasy and wonder.

Sonic smirked, spinning the blaster in one hand.

"I call it the Peel-Out. You put all your energy into the start, wait for the right moment, and move so fast it looks like you disappeared. Can't hold it for very long, though…"

"Can you teach me?" asked the fox, sounding like a little brother asking his older sibling.

Sonic shook his head.

"Woah. Hold on. A few seconds ago, you were about to blow my brains out, and now you want me to teach you my skillz?"

"Sorry…" The fox looked away dejected, a sad look in his eyes. A pang of guilt hit True Blue.

"Hey, don't worry. It's cool." Sonic tapped the fox on his shoulder. "What's your name, kid?"

The fox cheered up and smiled.

"It's Tails. Tails the Fox."

The two punched knuckles. Sonic checked out Tails' clothes. Tails had on a racing jersey, Capri pants that cut off around the shins, mechanic's gloves, old aviator goggles on his head, and some worn-out sneaks on his feet. Sonic then noticed where Tails got his namesake from; out of the back of his pants, two tails popped out. Sonic made a note to ask the fox about this later.

"Cool digs, dude. What'cha doing down here, anyway? Planning on knocking over a few convenience stores?"

Tail's mood changed back to the tense nature he had when they had first met.

"My friend got caught by the badniks, and they're throwing him into the arena today!" Remembering what his new friend could do, Tails suddenly became elated."Hey, could you help me? I bet with your speed, you bust in and save him easy!"

Sonic's head started to hurt. Too much had changed.

"Slow down there, kiddo. Arena? Since when did Mobotropolis have an arena?"

Now it was Tails' turn to look confused.

"Mobo?"

"Before your time. Yeah, sure, I'll save your friend. On one condition: where'd you get this gun?"

Tails looked away quickly and spoke even faster.

"Found it. Why?"

Realizing he wasn't going to get anything more out of Tails, Sonic holstered the gun.

"Never mind."

* * *

In the Eastern district of Robotropolis lay an enormous cylinder almost eight stories high and a mile long. On the outside, it looked like a large container for cheese or a big box of chocolates. But there was nothing sweet about this building.

For inside it was hollowed-out, with almost a quarter-mile of seating stretching six stories high around a metal floor littered with traps such as buzz blades, flamethrowers, and other implements of death.

This wasn't a giant playground, or a place to watch athletes go at one another in games of sport. This was a battleground of death, a recreational war zone created to entertain the masses and stroke their bloodlust to the point where it would cloud their eyes to the true corruption of the city.

This was the Robotropolis Arena.

Rolling out into the center of the Arena was a robot that was nothing more than a unicycle with arms and a camera for a head. It was painted like a zebra, with white and black stripes in a downward pattern.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to another night of mayhem and carnage!"

The crowd cheered, not because they enjoyed the spectacle, but more because they were glad it wasn't them out there.

"In the red corner, the merciless master of destruction, the nine-foot tall, eight-armed, two-ton monstrosity known as Armagedroid!"

A monstrosity the droid was indeed. Clad head to toe in coal blue armor, each arm wielded an instrument of destruction, from chainsaws to lasers and even a kitchen sink. He had no legs; rather, he moved about by means of treads. He had no visible eyes. His face seemed to melt into the armor.

"Rrrrraaaaarrrrrggghhhhhh!" The monstrosity lifted all its arms in the air and screamed at the top of its lungs.

"And in the blue corner, weighing fifteen pounds, the mean-spirited, loudmouthed, and above all annoying, albatross named Flicky!"

For an organic creature to be sentenced to the arena, they had to have no purpose in life and no use as a robot. Flicky was a large albatross with a loud mouth that had a penchant for saying things no one wanted to hear. Right now, he busy was pecking at the ball and chain attached to his leg.

"For spreading lies about our great leader, the accused is sentenced to die in the most gruesome way possible!"

"Woah, woah, woah! Hey, c'mon guys," shouted the bird. "All I said was that our great leader could use a treadmill for his birthday!"

The entire audience gasped.

"Treason!" The announcer shouted. "You're only making it worse for yourself!"

"Making it worse? How could this possibly get any worse?" the bird shouted.

"Begin!"

The giant killing machine charged the miniscule bird with every intent of turning it into mash.

"Maybe we could settle this over a game of Parcheesi?"

"KILL BIRDIE!"

"BOGGLE THEN?"

Five of the eight arms slammed into the ground, sending an enormous amount of dust into the air and creating a crater where the bird once stood. The audience grew silent as they strained to see what happened to the accused.

"Hrr…Hrr…hrrr…huh?"

The monster lifted all of its arms out of the hole. Everyone remained silent. Not a word was said. Then, a rise of anger arose from the audience.

The bird was gone.

"What happened?"

Watching the replay, all anyone could make out was a blue blur popping up directly in front of the Armagedriod a millisecond before he struck the bird. The bird was there, and then he was gone in the blink of an eye.

* * *

Deep below the arena, about four stories below the main street, another street spiraled in and out of the massive pipes that served as the drainage and sewage relief for the massive city above. Along this street lay hundreds of shacks, cabins, and refuges created from the junk tossed down here by the surface-dwellers. This was the sub-basement of Robotropolis, a shantytown built and populated by the undesirables of the city who cared nothing for the great leader who ruled above. The sound of running water was ever present as a river of green water rushed nearby.

In between the many shoddily built homes and bungalows lay small restaurants and take-out joints where the merchants eked out a meager existence. At a chilidog stand, Sonic sat eating his first meal since coming into the city, joined now by his new friend Tails…and the loud-mouthed Flicky, who fluttered his wings almost as fast as he flapped his mouth.

"I can't thank you enough – what did you say your name was? Oh yeah, Mr. Sonic, sir. Although I say that for the robot's sake, not mine of course. I mean, I could have taken that big lug easy, but why get your hands dirty, I always say! That reminds me of the time…"

"I'm starting to think this was a mistake," Sonic muttered, taking another chomp of his red hot chili dog.

Tails chuckled. "He'll wear himself out eventually."

"Hey blabbermouth! If you're going to talk, why not do me a favor and tell me what where the heck we are? For that matter, what happened to Mobotropolis?'

"Simple questions, but with some pretty big answers. Where to start? Well, years ago the Kingdom of Acorn was a prosperous nation, an oasis in world of desert, ruled by the Acorn family and their brood. But, other nations became jealous of our prosperity, and attacked with their war machines. The armies of Mobotropolis fought back, but they received huge losses and the city fell on dark times. Then, a man came from across the desert, an outcast from one of the enemy nations. He came bearing a 'gift' – a device which he had stolen from nation that exiled him."

"Robotnik."

"Yep, old lard-butt himself. Robotnik gives the king this thing called a roboticizer. Pretty much you enter the machine a furry, you come out a butt-kicking war robot. Of course the king was impressed! Who wouldn't be? He signed up every single soldier the army had left. They whupped up on everybody from here to Downunda. What Buttnik failed to mention was that once they became robots, the 'Robians' became mindless killing machines. Plus, they answered only to one person; him."

Sonic put down his chili dog and started drinking his soda. "Okay, so wasn't everyone pissed off? Why wasn't everyone roboticized?"

"Oh heck yeah, people were up in arms! But then Robotnik came out with this new idea which caught everyone off guard."

"What was it?" Sonic took another sip.

"He promised everyone immortality."

Sonic spit out the soda."What? Immortality? Like, living forever, never having to die?"

"Uh-huh." Flicky nodded his head.

"How?"

"I don't know the details, but the gist of it is that you insert your brain into a computer before your body dies. You then live on the intranet which runs the city. As long as the central computer doesn't go down, your brain stays alive, thus by default you live forever. The nobles liked the idea, so all the nobles turned on the king and Robotnik became the leader of the city. The city itself went high-tech, with robots and cyborgs and all that crazy techie stuff. Add in a demagogue that rules by fear, and you get Robotropolis in a nutshell."

"Great. So what's the Intranet?" Sonic was absolutely lost.

"Ask Tails, he's the technophile."

Tails eyes lit up, and he started waving his arms around like a child talking about a favorite toy.

"It's pretty cool! It's a giant web that anyone in the city can log on to and play around in. You can check out sports, play online games,"

"Download pron…" added Flicky.

"Do not!"

Sonic laughed. "So what's up this underground city?"

Once again, it was Flicky's turn to spout out a mouthful.

"There are four levels to the city, the surface and the three in the underground. First you've got the surface, which is where everyone who accepts Robotnik lives and works. You stay out of trouble and put out some work, you don't get roboticized and have a chance at being made immortal. Then there's the sewer under the surface. Nobody lives there. Next, you've got this level. Everyone who rejects Robotnik lives down here. Since most of the people down here aren't cyber-enhanced, the surface guys don't bother with 'em. We're second-class citizens, but it's not so bad down here; there are entire cities down here filled with bars and clubs. Below us is the forbidden zone. Nobody knows what's down there, but some people say there are mutants and other weird stuff. Nobody goes down there either."

Sonic rubbed his head. All that info made his head hurt.

"Okay, so let me get this straight; everyone on the surface is plugged into this intranet, and takes whatever Ro-buttnik dishes out in exchange for getting to live forever online. Everyone down here doesn't, so they get left out. Am I right?"

Flicky thought for a second. "That's… yeah, that's pretty much all we know."

"Doesn't make sense to me." Sonic groaned.

"Nobody else gets it either." Flicky agreed.

Sonic licked off his fingers, having finished the delicious chili dog.

"Done?" asked Tails.

"Yep."

"Finally!" Flicky shouted. "Then let's go home!"

"Where's home?" asked Sonic. Tails and Flicky smiled.

"You're one of us now, which means you can stay at our home. Welcome to the Lost Boys!

Next Chapter: Down the Rabbit Hole


End file.
